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<title>One man’s curse is another man’s blessing (Prompt: Nightmare) by Hello_Im_not_a_possum</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26957620">One man’s curse is another man’s blessing (Prompt: Nightmare)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hello_Im_not_a_possum/pseuds/Hello_Im_not_a_possum'>Hello_Im_not_a_possum</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hauntober BATIM Prompts [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Bendy and the Ink Machine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Animal Transformation, Curses, Gen, Night Terrors, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Sorry the one shot you requested took so long Mecha9Viceroy74, Transformation, batim monster au, the nightmare prompt fit the bill of your request perfectly, tsundere bird man has a reason for being a tsundere</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:09:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,758</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26957620</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hello_Im_not_a_possum/pseuds/Hello_Im_not_a_possum</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sammy Lawrence had mixed feelings for Joey Drew.</p><p>On one hand; he (begrudgingly) respected him as a magic user, the better hunter of the two of them, and acknowledged that he had done more good for the world of monsters and the world of man than he did harm.</p><p>On the other hand, Joey fucking Drew was the reason why he had to put up with the looming threat of his "Curse" bullshit in the first place.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hauntober BATIM Prompts [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959598</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>One man’s curse is another man’s blessing (Prompt: Nightmare)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p></p><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>The raven monster looked around frantically for an escape, he was in the woods again, his woods, his home. But he was being hunted. He could sense the villain pursuing him, like so many of its kind, it came with fire, traps, and a crude understanding of what he was. But unlike the other hunters who had all fallen before him, this one knew the ways of magic and knew how to use them against the feathered king of the forest.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>“Mr. Lawrence?”</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>For the first time in the beast’s life, he genuinely feared what would happen to him, he was terrified of this one-legged hunter who would otherwise be nothing but an appetizer to him. His eyes widened as he caught sight of the hunter, the man was looking directly at him and taking careful aim with his gun...</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Mr. Lawrence?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>Not wanting to get shot with whatever magical concoction the hunter undoubtedly put in the bullets, the raven spread his wings and flew away.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <h2>
    <em> <strong>*BANG*</strong> </em>
  </h2>
</div><div class="">
  <h2>
    <em> <strong>*CRRAAACK*</strong> </em>
  </h2>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>As the tree fell on his back and he fruitlessly struggled to get out of his self-made prison, he cursed himself for being so stupid! The hunter wasn’t aiming at him, he was aiming at the old tree!</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Mr. Lawrence?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>The Raven king’s blood turned into ice as he heard the uneven yet steady footsteps approaching him, his life flashed before his eyes as he part of him wondered what the hunter’s goal was. Did it come to strip the beast of his lovely iridescent-black feathers? Did it come to take him down for sport? Or did it come to avenge the others that he had killed? He howled and flapped his free wing as hard as he could as his hunter came closer and closer to him...</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“’EY SAMMY! SOMEONE’S TRYIN’ TA SPEAK TA YA!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Sammy snapped back to the present; he was human, in the studio’s break room, there were other people here, some of them looked at him like he was either hurt, crazy, or both.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Huh?! What?! Oh. ...What was the question again?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I just asked how you and Joey met each other...”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Right, <em>that</em>...” Sammy pinched the bridge of his nose, took a deep breath and recited the detail-scrubbed truth he had told many times before. “He was on a hunting trip and he trespassed on my property. It was dark, and he was firing his gun near me. So at the time, I thought he was out to kill me.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Oh.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“He’s still embarrassed about it and I don’t like remembering it.” Sammy took a long sip from his coffee. “And for future reference, my name’s not “Mr. Lawrence”, Just call me Sammy.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Okay then...”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“If that’s all you wanted from me,” He stood up from his seat, taking the coffee mug with him “then I’m going back to work.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>---------------------------------------------------------------------------</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>His talons were dulled and cut, his sharp beak was given the same treatment, his beautiful, glossy feathers that practically sparkled under sunlight and had been the envy of the world of monsters and world of mankind alike had all been plucked out. He stood naked and helpless in a form he had called his prey as long as he could remember, and was told that it was his true form.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Sammy Lawrence woke up from his nightmare in a cold sweat to discover that he had fallen asleep with his charm on, keeping him in what he called his “work skin”. Reaching for the charm Joey gave him and ripping it off, he sighed in relief as he saw his human body getting covered in feathers. But paused in confusion as he saw no further changes take place.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“<em>Don’t panic...</em>” he told himself as he fumbled around in the dark for the phone. “<em>Don’t panic...</em>” he repeated as he punched in Joey’s number. “<em>Don’t panic...</em>” he repeated again as the phone rang.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Hello?” Joey’s groggy voice answered “Sammy, what time is it-”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“JOEY SYLVESTER DREW, WHAT THE FUCK DID YOUR CURSED NECKLACE DO TO ME?!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Sammy, what happened?!” The bird monster heard shuffling on the other line, most likely Joey getting his shoes and coat on. “Can you describe the problem?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“When I took it off, it wouldn’t let me change back all the way!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“That’s... unusual...”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Does sleeping in it effect the charm’s power?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Physically, no, it shouldn’t do that.” Joey grabbed some of his spell books off the shelves “Unless you were wearing it for literal years without taking it off, but I highly doubt that’s what’s going on.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The bird monster heard the sounds of tires screeching.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Joey?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yes, Sammy?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“...Are you driving while talking on the phone again?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“That’s not the issue at hand, are there any other details about your condition that you need to tell me?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Joey you idiot, you’re going to get yourself killed if you keep pulling shit like this! Either hang up the phone or I will!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Good news, I’m pulling into your driveway as we speak!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Sammy slapped his forehead in frustration as he hung up the phone. Sure enough, as he looked outside his window he saw the familiar beat-up Rolls Royce that had somehow managed to survive being Joey’s car for at least fifteen years. <s>The same car Joey threw him into all those years ago.</s></p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He exited his house and saw Joey hobble out of the driver’s seat trying to balance the almost comedically large stack of books he had brought with him with his cane.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Need help?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“It would be appreciated.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Sammy wordlessly took the large stack out of Joey’s hands and led him into his ‘home’.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>As soon as the pair were in, Joey immediately went to work on trying to figure out what went wrong, flipping through his large stack of books and poking and prodding at Sammy’s feather-covered form.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Did you recently eat or drink anything that felt ‘off’ to you?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“No.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Have you recently been in or near areas that belong to the fae and or any other supernatural being?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Do I look like an insane dumbass?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“First off: Hey! Second off: What about people, did you recently meet someone who you felt was out to get you and or had strong magical abilities?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Not any that know about my “Condition” as you call it.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Oh dear...”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“What is it?!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>‘Oh dear’, ‘oh no’, ‘oops’, and ‘oh well’ were the four worst phrases Sammy could ever hear Joey say.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Sammy, how much are you aware about the nature of your condition?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I’ve been a raven monster for as long as I could remember, sometimes I would change my size for convenience's sake and could somewhat alter my form to have an extra pair of talons in my wings if I wanted, and then after you stole me from my forest, I could look like a somewhat-normal human being with your charm.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I meant, what do you know about the <em>background</em> of your condition, do you know why you have it?” </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Well, there was what Allison said, but I still think she was just spouting hogwash to convince me I’m one of you people...”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“What was it?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“According that fortune teller friend of yours, my ‘curse’ was put on me by my mom’s relatives. They couldn’t stand the fact that she eloped with a black man so they “cursed me to take the form of a monster he’d grow the boy into anyway” and that it would only be broken when I found my “Real family”. But I’m pretty sure that if I had a human family that wanted me, they’d look for me.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“That makes explaining this slightly easier;” Joey sighed. “Sammy, did you know that magic takes more than just blood relations into account of who your family is? In fact, spiritual family connections that are mutual between two parties tend to be stronger than blood family connections.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I think you’ve said something like that before...” </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I’m telling you this because I think that you’ve loosened your curse.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The bird man blinked in disbelief.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Are you telling me..?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Joey twiddled his thumbs sheepishly as he spoke, the man was clearly uncomfortable to break the news to him.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You are genuinely a human being, and your curse is slowly but surely being lifted.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Sammy stared at Joey wide-eyed with his visible skin was white as a sheet. He left the room and Joey heard muffled screaming coming from that area.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Now Sammy, I’m sure you have a lot of mixed feelings about this, but I know we’re bound to find a solution somehow!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The muffled screaming continued as Sammy was still taking in the fact that his worst personal nightmare was <em>real</em> and happening right now. The songbird musician felt sick to his stomach... He used to <em>eat</em> humans for fuck’s sake! They were one of his favorite meats before meeting Joey, and now he was being told that he <em>was</em> one?!</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Sammy?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And the pack... Without him, what would happen to the werewolf pack in the studio?! He needed his wings to properly watch after them! Even if they knew his scent too well to attack him while they were wolfed out, a human being is much slower and weaker than a pack of werewolves, they could get themselves hurt, or worse, killed if he couldn’t keep up with them! And what if one of them accidentally turned him?! None of them would ever be able to live with the emotional turmoil of that!</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Sammy..?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He was useless now! Nothing more than a pathetic wreck of a human being who had thrown away all his value because he let his guard down, got too soft in the humans’ world, too comfortable talking with them... And now he doomed himself to be one of them, and the wolf pack to a terrible fate.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Sammy.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The musician felt a reassuring hand on his back, and looked up to see Joey Drew’s concerned face.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Take a few days off if you need them, I can understand if you need space to sort all of this out.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He stayed silent as he thought over his situation.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>As it turned out, taking some space was exactly what he needed. All it took was a few days back in the woods, far away from the studio, <s>and the people there</s> and he was back to his former glory, only turning human again when he put on Joey’s cursed trinket.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He knew he’d have to return eventually, but when he did, he’d know better than to let his guard down again.</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
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